The AC Transit Board tonight will consider adopting procurement criteria for 143 new buses it plans to buy, beginning the process to recruit general manager candidates, and taking measures to improve on-time performance of buses on the busy 1R route. The meeting starts at 5 p.m. at AC Transit headquarters, 1600 Franklin St. Oakland.

To view the agenda and staff reports online, click here. Preparing to buy the new buses over the next two years, the board is discussing criteria for seats, engines, location of ramps, steps and windows. As for its top executive position, the board will consider advertising for an executive search firm to recruit a new district general manager. Mary King is acting general manager, a post she was promoted to after Rick Fernandez resigned in late 2009 after a decade at the helm of the bus system in Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

Joyce Roy, a citizen watchdog and frequent critic of AC Transit, sent out an email saying that the agenda is especially heavy because the transit board is using a new meeting format that folds the agenda of two board committees into the full board meetings.